School Rumble: Unseen Reactions
by DCWestby
Summary: First is Episode 14 of the Anime, english dub version. SPOILER, do not read if you have not previously read or watched Season 1 to Ep 15! Very slight Eri x Kenji and Mikoto x Kenji references. Please read and comment, Thank you.


Remember the disclaimer, not that it truly is needed. As everyone with common sense knows that those who write here generally do so for their own amusement and enjoyment, using characters and plots that officially copyrighted to their creators such as Jin Kobayashi[sp?].

After the beach trip, the series continues with the cass' part time jobs. However, what if Harima and his supervisor had arrived earlier? In the series, we don't see Harima until the scene demands it, but there is the point that Tenma's window is open, and he is working below her window, likely well within hearing range. While we know his reaction to Tenma's ending observation, what other reactions of his were missed due to the scene focusing indoors?

Harima and his supervisor placed the two ladders that would serve as the foundation for a scaffold in order for Kenji to work on the upstairs compressor while the supervisor checked the main floor portion of the cooling system. Yet in Hamira's mind he was working out the details of where exactly he was, _"Huh, I know I've seen that girl before..."_ He pondered as he lifted the heavy wooden board that served as the scaffolding over the ladders. _"Ah! Yes, I think I've seen her at school before now that I think of it."_

He grabbed his toolbox off the ground and ascended to the scaffold level, only replying with a "Got it." when his Supervisor said that he'd check the main floor cooling system.

Just as he knelt to reach for the compressor covering, a shrill sound ensuing from within the room caused him to wince. What came next nearly threw him off the roof. "What's happening to my body!?" A girl's voice frustratedly anguished.

Harima twitched as he processed this, _"..... Riiiight.... Must ignore and work, must ignore and work-" _He unscrewed the cover and took a look at what needed done as he tried to focus on what he was doing, but invariably as the brain has to process all five sense inputs... Well, the focusing went out the window with the next series of sounds from within.

"By the way-"

Harima's head swung toward the open window from where he sat on the scaffold, having taken out the broken piece. _"T-that's Tenma's voice!" _His ears were now mostly glued to the auditory portion of what he was hearing.

"You mean there's more?! Well spit it out! I can take it!"

Harima's eyes glanced toward the window, _"Huh, Ojou's voice." _He frowned at the component and looked around in the toolbox he had brought for the repair job.

However, much of his hearing was focused on the window, and soon he was right below the window looking at the innards of the compressor.

"Well, its about Harima-san... I'm pretty sure he has a major crush on Mikoto-"

_"WHAT THE?!" _Harima's thoughts took a sudden left turn, _"Mikoto? Tenma thinks I like Mikoto?"_ A picture of the girl in question filled his mind. _"Hmm, well, I do like her as a friend." _He reasoned, but then frowned, _"However Tenma, you have it wrong, for I Love YOU! Why would you think I like Mikoto that way? She's not my type...." _Having channeled the physical frustrations of his thoughts into repair the gadget for the compressor, he moved up the short span of roof and began to reposition the part correctly.

All the while inwardly focused on the sounds from a few feet away. straining to hear Tenma's voice, but it was fickle with his ears. "...Mikoto is.... pretty."

He could hear the rich girl's response better, "Well, come on. When you think about it. Mikoto isn't that pretty."

He blinked, then sneered mentally at the blonde, _"Yeah rich girl. Not as pretty as you are right?... Wait, where'd that come from?!" _He shook his head and continued reattatching the gizmo to the compressor.

Inside Tenma's room, it was akin to a tomb. Silent, terribly quiet and desolate of noise. A state that, given the current occupancy of the room, Tenma deemed unnacceptable. She looked at Eri, who was busily looking at her textbook as if her life depended on it. Then Tenma's eyes rotated over to Mikoto, who was just as deeply into her textbook. The owner of room chuckled nervously and ejected silence from the room, "So, has anyone noticed how hot its been lately? Anyone mind if I open the window wider?"

"Sure, whatever." came the stereo response.

Sweatdropping, Tenma went to the window, but found it was already open as far as it could go. She frowned and returned to the table where the three of them were studying, with silence quickly regaining its foothold in the room.

Outside Harima was feeling very lucky that Tenma had not glanced down when she was at the window. He was of course worried that she would recognize him despite the worker's outfit he had on. He continued securing the parts of the compressor as those only accessible by earshot briefly discussed Tenma's homework.

He was in the process of securing the compressor cover when his ears just barely caught the end of the blonde's reply to Tenma, "...but you have to know how to do this stuff especially if you're planning to go to college." The following silence was broken by his work on tightening the fasteners of the compressor cover.

"There." He muttered to himself and began to check over his work area, making sure he had put everything back as it should be.

Inside, Tenma had excitedly greeted Akira, letting her in. "Yeah! Let's look at the vacation pictures!"

Outside, in fact just under the window, Harima was checking where the compressor went through the wall to the inside for leaks and such when... "Tenma, would you shut up?!"

Then, "You can't tell it from these, but you must be pretty busy since you're secretly running around with that hairy delinquent as well."

Harima's eyes opened wider, _"Huh?" _He thought, _"What the hell you doing Princess?!"_

Inside, Tenma backed away from the table as Mikoto angrily smacked her hands on the table, then stood up. "That's it, If you got something to say, just spit it out! I'm sick and tired of playing all these catty little games! I don't know what the hell your problem is, but you seriously need to grow up!" Mikoto glared down at the seated Eri as she concluded her attack. "Just get over yourself!!"

At which point Eri unfolded herself from the seating mat and glared back over the low table. "That does it. It so on Mikoto!" She then leaned over the table and pointed at the other girl, "Unlike me-"

Outside, Harima had frozen in place, listening to what he could piece together of Ojou's accusation, _"What's going on?"_ He wondered as he listened, his already completed job on the compressor forgotten.

"-To anyone who can grow whiskers! First you're all nice with Hanai, then you and Imidori just disappear somewhere and now you're after Harima!"

To the said listener outside the window, this was really out of left field. _"Whoa Whoa there."_ He screwed up his face in thought, _"Since when is Mikoto after me?! Ojou, I think your wires are crossed somewhere."_

"-The hell are you talking about ponytails? You're the one who had him on his knees in the middle of the freakin' sidewalk the other day!"

_"WHAT?! Someone saw that!? Aw crap! Tenma's in there! Just great!" _Harima internally raged.

"Wha?!"

"That?!" Eri frowned at the memory as she replied, "I couldn't help it if he just suddenly popped up out of nowhere, grabbed my hand and started confessing his love to me!"

"WHAT!?!" Inside, Tenma watched as Eri gathered up her stuff and bid Tenma specifically goodbye. After the door had closed, she turned to Mikoto. "Is that true?"

The shoulder length hair settled on Mikoto's shoulders as she confirmed what had been said, "Yeah, its true. At the time, I thought I should just keep my mouth shut and get out of there before they could see me."

"I don't get it. I was helping him him practice how to confess his love to you."

"Wha!?!"

"He seemed so serious about it too..." Tenma looked at the floor in bewilderment for a moment, "And all that time, he was chasing after the both of you-"

_"YOU'VE GOT IT WRONG!" _Harima raged at Tenma silently,_ "ITS YOU I LOVE! Argh!!"_

Outside, Harima had a very bad feeling about what was coming, however, he'd only made it to the scaffolding when he heard Tenma's sad voice carried to him. "Oh Harima, you've- You're terrible."

Final.

Author's Note and Clarificational cleanup: Due to the last statement being where they actually show his reactions, I will cut it off there. Because if you watch where Harima enters in the anime, if you logically place the happenings inside the room to the outside. Then by the time the verbal spar occurs, Harima should be outside Tenma's open window. by that time. What I've simply tried to do is insert Harima's reactions to various things the girls say. Also, to my knowledge and replaying of the anime, Yakumo says nothing to Tenma about the AC repair people arriving or its never elaborated to. I tried to keep them close to character as I could. Let me know what you think of this short addendum that is simply meant to add more realism concerning the timing of events.


End file.
